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help with sub panels ground
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House is large fixer upper 100 plus yo,
Done before we got here,
Modern Main panel on back of house feeds two modern basement sub panels, one close to the main one across the basement, about 100 feet,
The ground / neutral share a buss in main panel the buss is connected by wire to a rod in the earth and old no longer used plumbing pipes in ground and some still are in walls etc unused, new plumbing pipe was installed.
Both subs have 3 feeds from main, two hots one neutral,
The ground/neutral in subs in not bonded.
Both subs have a wire running from their ground buss to earth rods,
Im told this isnt correct and a ground wire from mains ground to subs ground should have been there.
So what are my options?
Add/Run a ground wire from main to each sub?
Should i then remove the earth ground rods from subs or okay to just leave them?
Other options?
Many thanks,
Side question,
It seems from reading that its important not to bond ground and neutral in sub panels but to have a ground wire going from the subs ground to the mains ground,
But the ground and neutral is bonded in a main so isnt that ground wire from it just extending that bonding to the sub?
Again many thanks
b
Answers ( 2 )
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I want to thank you for your reply,
I loved your sub panel install video but i must be really messed up with the terms being used,
My subs are basically like your video, longer feed wires and missing the ground wire but otherwise the same.
Everything i see out there including your video says the ground neutral busses should not be ” bonded” in subs but should be in mains yet your reply seems to be saying the opposite,
Perhaps im not grasping or misunderstanding the term “bonding” i thought it meant that the neutral and ground are together combined. In common with each other as they are in my main panel but not combinded in sub panels,
Im i missing the boat bad here?
Please briefly explain why you feel this answer should be reported.
Your sub panels need to be grounded and bonded. And remove the bonding screw from the main panel. With a #8 wire. Should also be grounded to the plumbing. It’s really hard to say what you need without really seeing it.